What's the best iPhone app for NEXRAD?

gismo

gismo

Touchdown! Greaser!
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iGismo
I'm looking for an inexpensive way to view NEXRAD on my iPhone. Are there any good free apps for this? Are any of the one-time pay apps worth paying for. I'd just as soon avoid anything with a monthly fee unless it was really cheap since I don't expect to use it often.
 
I have not found one yet. That said, I have not looked too hard.
I setup a bookmark on Safari to my favorite internet Nexrad site... intellicast.
 
:rolleyes: "My Radar" by Aviation Data Systems, is alright. Free, and it shows animated radar and allows you to pinch/zoom to the area you want, or just around your current location.

:rolleyes: "Weather Radar" by Exact Magic Software, is 0.99 cents, and does an ok job as well. It loads fairly fast compared to some others and does the same as the above.

:D "US Weather Maps" by Steve Parker (0.99 cents) is my favorite weather App outside of ForeFlight. I can see NOAA maps such as surface maps, alerts, dewpoint, high/low temps, skycover, winds. Also, toggle to US Radar and see animated radar with cloud cover just like on TV, or Satelites for Infared Satelite images. Loads good for the amount of info it provides on the 3G and EDGE services. You can also add your own favorite weathermaps from a HTTP link by clicking on the little "+" sign and adding the link. I now use this app and have removed the two listed above.
 
It doesn't exist for the iPhone, it exists for Android, and its free (like most worthwhile apps on an open source platform).
 
I use the Weather Channel App.. under the "explore map" softkey, it shows radar overlaid on googlemaps. May not be NEXTRAD but it is weather radar and fairly up to date.
 
SkyHog said:
It doesn't exist for the iPhone,
Click to expand...

Right. :rolleyes:

Lance, I just used a bookmark (the variety that becomes an icon on your "desktop") to go directly to the DUATS Great Lakes NEXRAD map.

I also have ForeFlight, but I don't use it as my sole source of radar this time of year because they do not (yet) have dual-polarity radar.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Right. :rolleyes:

Lance, I just used a bookmark (the variety that becomes an icon on your "desktop") to go directly to the DUATS Great Lakes NEXRAD map.
Click to expand...

I haven't tried that yet, and don't really know how to make such a bookmark. Is it fairly obvious how to do this? I'm also thinking that a "real" iPhone app would do a better job of dealing with zoom/pan/looping control than I'd get with Safari.

I also have ForeFlight, but I don't use it as my sole source of radar this time of year because they do not (yet) have dual-polarity radar
Click to expand...
What does ForeFlight cost and what does it give you?

I did download the free "My Radar" app and the $0.99 "US weather maps" apps and they look sufficient for my current needs. I've also been using "AeroWeather" to get METARs for some time now.
 
gismo said:
I haven't tried that yet, and don't really know how to make such a bookmark. Is it fairly obvious how to do this? I'm also thinking that a "real" iPhone app would do a better job of dealing with zoom/pan/looping control than I'd get with Safari.
Click to expand...

In Safari, go to the page you want to bookmark. You can then click the + sign in the bottom center, and you have a few options. "Add Bookmark", adds it to your little book in the bottom of safari as a quick link from within safari. "Add to Home Screen" places it on one of your App pages just like an App Button.

What does ForeFlight cost and what does it give you?
Click to expand...

I just purchased ForeFlight Mobile 3 after using it for the free 30 day trial period and loving it. It was $70 for a year IIRC. You can still try it free from the App store for 30 days too.
 
What Rob said, plus...

gismo said:
What does ForeFlight cost and what does it give you?
Click to expand...

Oh, approximately everything.

Live (weather) data: Metars, TAFs, winds aloft, radar, satellite, NOTAMs (organized by issue date, so you don't have to read any of the ones you already know about), DUATS briefings, all of the NOAA graphics (the stuff you'd find on aviationweather.gov), TFR maps, and a few pieces of data from Weather Underground. (That's for the USA, they also have international data.)

Downloadable data (28-day cycle): All A/FD data (Both US and international!), AOPA airport directory data plus some additional supplemental data from other companies, Sectionals, Low and High enroutes, approach plates, airport diagrams. The A/FD and AOPA data is always downloaded, while all of the rest of the data is selectable by state for automatic download, and is otherwise available for on-demand download. For example, I have it set to download all of the approach plates for Wisconsin on every new cycle, but when I bring up an airport outside Wisconsin, I can either individually select plates to download (as I view them, they're cached until the next cycle), or I can hit one button to download all of the plates for that airport. It's very well-done.

Finally - Additional functionality:
* Flight plan filing - Including alerting you when the plan is actually successfully filed with the FAA
* Flight planning - Just punch in "KFCM 3M0 180kts 26gph 8000ft" and it'll pop up a nav log. (You can put waypoints in between as well.) It'll also show your route on the charts, or even the satellite/radar maps. Routes can be stored for future use too, and you can set a default airspeed and fuel burn so that you don't have to type them in each time.

It's one heckuvan app - Very well-designed, tons of features, easy to use. Well worth the price. Download it and try it out!

OBTW - We talked to Tyson Weihs and Jason Miller of ForeFlight on Pilotcast 72 which is now live - Give it a listen!
 
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